Motorola Unveils 8MP Android XT720 Without MotoBLUR

Trying to understandably steal a little attention for itself is Motorola which has today confirmed a tweaked version of the Motoroi is coming to the UK. Now called the 'Milestone XT720' (I really don't comprehend why it doesn't use the 'Droid' marketing worldwide? Verizon's licenses it through Lucasfilm - cool!) it squashes in the power packed specs of the original: 3.7in WVGA (480X854) multi-touch capacitive display, 8MP camera with Xenon flash, 720p HD video recording, HSDPA, GPS, WiFi and HDMI for direct connection to a High Def tele.

What it drops is DMB mobile TV support which is understandable given DVB-H is the defacto standard in the UK. That isn't included though, because as yet we don't care about mobile TV. Elsewhere you'll find 8GB of native storage, a 32GB compatible microSD slot and a 3.5mm headphone jack.

Perhaps most interesting, however, is Motorola will be shipping the XT720 without MotoBLUR - its custom Android skin. This means it will use a vanilla flavour of Android 2.1 which should make updating to new firmware like Froyo much easier. Motorola hasn't indicated whether this will be a consistent strategy from now on (I suspect not), but given our well known apathy towards third party UI customisations this is great step towards reducing fragmentation.

No network support has been announced as yet, but Motorola will also be selling the Milestone XT720 sim free at eXpansys.com, play.com and Clove from 11 June. All in all, just what we asked for.

Update: Motorola has confirmed the Xt720 will ship with a meatier 720MHz CPU and 512MB RAM in Europe.